North Harbour put Southland to the sword

North Harbour continued with their fine start to the season when they claimed a 45-20 win over Southland in Invercargill on Thursday.

As expected this was an entertaining affair with tries aplenty although the Premiership side's class shone through in the end, after Southland held a slender 17-15 lead at half-time.

North Harbour took control of proceedings as the match progressed and eventually outscored their hosts six tries to two.

Southland held and early 10-0 lead thanks to a converted Matthew Johnson try and a Scott Eade penalty but North Harbour were soon level after Ryan Tongia kicked a penalty and a Matt Vaega try which Bryn Gatland converted.

Gatland then crossed for a try before Liam Howley dotted down for Southland and Eade's conversion gave the home side a deserved, albeit narrow, lead at the break.

The second half saw North Harbour stepping up a few gears on attack and further tries from Chris Eves, Shaun Stevenson, Vaega and Tevita Li were enough to seal their win with Southland's only points coming via an Eade penalty early in the half.

The scorers:

For Southland:
Tries: Johnson, Howley
Cons: Eade 2
Pens: Tongia, Eade 

For North Harbour:
Tries: Vaega 2, Gatland, Eaves, Stevenson, Li
Cons: Gatland 2, Volavola
Pens: Gatland 2, Volavola 

Southland: 15 Lewis Ormond, 14 Ryan Tongia, 13 Matthew Johnson, 12 James Schrader, 11 Aleki Morris, 10 Scott Eade, 9 Liam Howley, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Tim Boys, 6 Phil Halder, 5 Bill Fukofuka, 4 Mike McKee, 3 Guy Millar, 2 Brayden Mitchell (c), 1 Joe Walsh 
Replacements: 16 Flynn Thomas, 17 Shaun Stodart, 18 Morgan Mitchell, 19 Manaaki Selby-Rickit, 20 Tupou Sopaga, 21 Jay Renton, 22 Michael Molloy, 23 William Talataina-Mu

North Harbour: 15 Shaun Stevenson, 14 Matt Duffie, 13 Matt Vaega, 12 Harrison Grounmdwater, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Bryn Gatland, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Murphy Taramai, 7 Connor Collett, 6 Glenn Preston, 5 Jarred Hoeata, 4 Brendon Nansen, 3 Michael Tamoaieta, 2 James Parson,1  Nic Mayhew
Replacements: 16 Adrian Smith, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Sione Mafileo, 19 Shane Neville, 20 Josh Tyrell, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Mark Telea, 23 Ben Volavola

Referee: Jamie Nutbrown